Stone Glacier SkyLine Bino Harness Review

[Pettit877]

Stupid question: I absolutely cannot unsnap the “quick release” buckle on the Tether strap. What am I missing? I’ve been wrestling with this snap since I got home from work. What am I missing here?..

This took me a while a well. But once I had it apart it was much easier from there on
out.

If you are holding the quick release in your hand with the end that attaches to your binos at 12 o’clock. (Same as your photo)

thumb and forefinger holding the top section and the other thumb and forefinger on the bottom pull the top to the 3’ o’clock and the bottom to the 9 o’clock positions. This has worked for me.

Eric

 

[MNElk33]

I ran the KuIu Pro enclosed harness this past season. The SG and Kuiu seem I have similar concepts for adjustability with draw string compression, waterproof, and forward opening. To be honest the Kuiu was super loud with that kind of adjustability. I actually refrained from using my Binos many times due to this. I never found the sweet spot for compression and am curious if the SG has this same issue. I changed to the Marsupial enclosed in the off season but purchased prior to this being available.

 

[Kotaman]

This took me a while a well. But once I had it apart it was much easier from there on
out.

If you are holding the quick release in your hand with the end that attaches to your binos at 12 o’clock. (Same as your photo)

thumb and forefinger holding the top section and the other thumb and forefinger on the bottom pull the top to the 3’ o’clock and the bottom to the 9 o’clock positions. This has worked for me.

Eric

Thank you so much...That worked. “Quick Detach” my @ss! . That’s a horrible clip Kurt.

 

[Squirrels]

Thank you so much...That worked. “Quick Detach” my @ss! . That’s a horrible clip Kurt.

I struggled too.

 

[Pettit877]

Thank you so much...That worked. “Quick Detach” my @ss! . That’s a horrible clip Kurt.

Should be much easier now! Glad I could help.

Eric

 

[kipper09]

Stupid question: I absolutely cannot unsnap the “quick release” buckle on the Tether strap. What am I missing? I’ve been wrestling with this snap since I got home from work. What am I missing here?..

Don’t feel bad. I messed with it for 15 minutes probably haha


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[Kotaman]

Kurt...We need a “how to” video on the clip!

In all seriousness, this is still a great harness. Just went through my “harness stash”, consisting of 7 different harnesses with my new Zeiss Victory RF’s. In the end I still like this SG harness and the original Marsupial out of everything I’ve tried.

 

[PredatorAT]

Received bino harness with RF pack the other day and have it fully set up.

As mentioned above, my biggest concern is noise on this thing. It's not noise from things brushing up against the outside - no worse than others. It's the noise of opening the cover. Absolutely impossible to do silently. The material may be waterproof or highly resistant but that combined with the shock cord design results in the material making very audible noise upon opening. By comparison I can open my Marsupial completely silently. On a still quiet day you would simply not be able to open the bino lid or RF lid without risking spooking game. Additionally, inserting your binos back into the pouch makes some noise again, given the material employed. Again, my Marsupial is totally fleece lined inside and silent to remove or replace the binos.

I'm going to get it in the field and see what I think. There are some pros and cons (some are nits) outside of the noise factor but the noise is certainly a negative. If you are rifle hunting and only using the pack at 200+ yds it's probably not going to be an issue. If you are a bowhunter, it absolutely could be.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Received bino harness with RF pack the other day and have it fully set up.

As mentioned above, my biggest concern is noise on this thing. It's not noise from things brushing up against the outside - no worse than others. It's the noise of opening the cover. Absolutely impossible to do silently. The material may be waterproof or highly resistant but that combined with the shock cord design results in the material making very audible noise upon opening. By comparison I can open my Marsupial completely silently. On a still quiet day you would simply not be able to open the bino lid or RF lid without risking spooking game. Additionally, inserting your binos back into the pouch makes some noise again, given the material employed. Again, my Marsupial is totally fleece lined inside and silent to remove or replace the binos.

I'm going to get it in the field and see what I think. There are some pros and cons (some are nits) outside of the noise factor but the noise is certainly a negative. If you are rifle hunting and only using the pack at 200+ yds it's probably not going to be an issue. If you are a bowhunter, it absolutely could be.

I don’t consider myself a bow hunter, although I have killed a few deer with a bow out of a tree stand, so please take this for what it is, simply a question. How often are you really close to game (within bow range), and feel the need to look at it through binoculars? As a rifle hunter, I rarely if ever, look at game through my binoculars, if it’s within about 100 yards or so, give or take.


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[Tradchef]

i have been enjoying mine the last couple of weeks.

 

[HuntWyld]

I don’t consider myself a bow hunter, although I have killed a few deer with a bow out of a tree stand, so please take this for what it is, simply a question. How often are you really close to game (within bow range), and feel the need to look at it through binoculars? As a rifle hunter, I rarely if ever, look at game through my binoculars, if it’s within about 100 yards or so, give or take.


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All the time. If you stalk in on a bedded animal even at 50 yards you might not be able to see the positioning of the shoulder blade or exact location of the vitals unless you pull up your binos and examine. Not to mention the tiny dead limbs than can be covering a set of vitals that within bow range are invisible without glassing the animal first. Often times when on the final leg of a stalk the terrain looks so different than what it did from where you were initially glassing from that all you know is that your in the “zone” but need to consistently be scanning through the binos for any little patch of fur or ear flick and often this ends up happening well within bow range. For Tree stand use, glassing up a buck when he’s out at 60-80 yards so that you can stand up and get ready ahead of time for a shot if he’s a true “shooter”. All these instances require a silent harness, even as an archer my glass is only second to my weapon. If I had to give up either my boots or my glass on a hunt, ide be hunting barefoot.

 

[PredatorAT]

I don’t consider myself a bow hunter, although I have killed a few deer with a bow out of a tree stand, so please take this for what it is, simply a question. How often are you really close to game (within bow range), and feel the need to look at it through binoculars? As a rifle hunter, I rarely if ever, look at game through my binoculars, if it’s within about 100 yards or so, give or take.


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I use my binos constantly and I'm usually pretty selective on deer so it happens. It's also not at all uncommon that I have my binos out and need to put them back while game is in range and that can't be noisy. And the tether system is sort of silly as it's a single tether so to not put the binos back they would hang awkwardly low on my left side. Of course if it had a good double tether system like the marsupial the binos would hang on the flap would would make even more noise with the SG harness. It's also very true that I often have to remove and replace the rangefinder with game in range and while that flap isn't quite as noisy since it's smaller than the bino flap, it still creates noise.

Again, all of this activity is totally silent one-handed operation with my Marsupial and I find replicating that to be impossible with the SG. I am going to get it out in a treestand as see how bad I think it is in live hunting situation but have significant concerns I was hoping would not be the case.

 

[Dos Perros]

Received bino harness with RF pack the other day and have it fully set up.

As mentioned above, my biggest concern is noise on this thing. It's not noise from things brushing up against the outside - no worse than others. It's the noise of opening the cover. Absolutely impossible to do silently. The material may be waterproof or highly resistant but that combined with the shock cord design results in the material making very audible noise upon opening. By comparison I can open my Marsupial completely silently. On a still quiet day you would simply not be able to open the bino lid or RF lid without risking spooking game. Additionally, inserting your binos back into the pouch makes some noise again, given the material employed. Again, my Marsupial is totally fleece lined inside and silent to remove or replace the binos.

I'm going to get it in the field and see what I think. There are some pros and cons (some are nits) outside of the noise factor but the noise is certainly a negative. If you are rifle hunting and only using the pack at 200+ yds it's probably not going to be an issue. If you are a bowhunter, it absolutely could be.

Are you using the newer enclosed Marsupial?

 

[PredatorAT]

Are you using the newer enclosed Marsupial?

Nope, not the latest version - using the one prior. Mine is enclosed along the back (unlike the SG which has openings) but has a bit of an opening on the sides (where SG covers most of the side - just not the back). I'm aware of the new Marsupial which is supposed to be fully enclosed - sides and back.

 

[Dos Perros]

Nope, not the latest version - using the one prior. Mine is enclosed along the back (unlike the SG which has openings) but has a bit of an opening on the sides (where SG covers most of the side - just not the back). I'm aware of the new Marsupial which is supposed to be fully enclosed - sides and back.

Cool. I have the old Marsupial too and agree I can get it in/out pretty quietly, but also think it could be even quieter with a material change.

 

[Trees91]

It's "ok" so far. No hunting with it yet. Part of it is probably my fault, I have it maxed out with 12x50el binos. Defiantly not a one handed operation with these binos, have to hold the bottom of the harness with one hand and shove the binos in with the other. Also don't like all the sharp, rough "hook" side of the Velcro inside the harness. My back plate is so high to accommodate the tall binos that a lot of that rough surface is exposed....it's really abrasive on the rubber armor of the binos.

Also it really likes to flop forward as soon as the hood is opened. They won't fall out because the 50mm obj is jammed in there...

I want to like it. I like Stone Glacier, Kurt seems like the man and I like that it's made in America. I think smaller binos and it would be really handy, so I'm really hoping for the XL model.

 

[Kurt]

Trees91,
The 12x50 do max the harness out, that is what I personally use. However the XL size will have an overlap in sizing to the harness you have, the 12x50 will fall into the middle to lower range of the XL adjustment for sizing. The XL will have more coverage for the taller sizes and more depth to also accommodate ranging binos. If you prefer, I can put you on the list as they will have more room if you prefer. Feel free to email me [email protected] and we can arrange the swap of sizing as soon as they are available. We are planning to start production in late January with a Feb availability.
Best,
Kurt

 

[Trees91]

Kurt
Thanks for the reply. I'd really like to try the XL harness when it comes out. I'll shoot you an email.

 

[fasteddie]

I am not big guy (5'7" 145) and some of the bino harnesses are pretty bulky and don't adjust enough to fit securely for me. In the pics the SG looks pretty sleek and the straps not too bulky. So...
how does it adjust and ride on non-XL sized people?

 

[Trees91]

It's light and slim that's for sure. I'm a fan of sleek simple harnesses, I don't want a bunch of bulk hanging off my chest. I'm not a little guy but not huge either. 5'10" 185lb. It has plenty adjustment for someone smaller.